But things don't go as planned in the Arizona desert, because sweet Mikey just wants to be friends. After spending time in treatment with other young women like her-who cut, burn, poke, and otherwise hurt themselves-Charlie is released and takes a bus from the Twin Cities to Tucson to be closer to Mikey, a boy she "like-likes" but who had pined for Ellis instead. Seventeen-year-old Charlie Davis, a white girl living on the margins, thinks she has little reason to live: her father drowned himself her bereft and abusive mother kicked her out her best friend, Ellis, is nearly brain dead after cutting too deeply and she's gone through unspeakable experiences living on the street. The book is not perfect-more time is spent on conversation and internal rumination than action, the plot can feel overstuffed, and the drama is occasionally over-the-top-but the abundant angst will resonate with many teens.Īn absorbing look at the cultural obsession with women’s weight and how much energy and effort it takes to live an authentic life on one’s own terms.Īfter surviving a suicide attempt, a fragile teen isn't sure she can endure without cutting herself.
Relationship complications with friends (one of whom is transgender and has her own set of issues, which are sensitively explored), a current boyfriend, a longtime crush, and a jealous classmate add to the intensity, which builds to an expected but nonetheless powerful confrontation. Larsen’s engrossing first-person narrative reveals these details quickly, then layers on incidents and emotions to build an immersive experience as Ashley struggles to write her college application essay and to stand strong in the face of her paternal grandmother’s coercive manipulation. She’s also fat and of mixed ethnicity: her emotionally unavailable, ineffectual father is Caucasian, her absent mother’s Latina, from Colombia. She holds down a job, rescues stray dogs, and aspires to be a doctor. A high school senior strives to realize her dream of attending Harvard despite financial limitations and her dysfunctional family.Īshley Maria Perkins has plenty going for her-she’s the valedictorian at her academically challenging private high school, class president, and former captain of the volleyball team.
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